https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1423997/Judge-calls-for-end-to-evil-trade-of-buying-babies-for-adoption.htmlJudge calls for an end to 'evil trade' of buying babies for adoption
By Rosie Waterhouse and Nigel Bunyan
12:01AM GMT 08 Mar 2003
A High Court judge yesterday called for action to stamp out the "evil and exploitative trade" of buying and selling babies for adoption. He was giving his decision in the case of a black American baby who was sold by her mother for just £624 and adopted by a white British couple, who later split up. The adoptive mother, who had been married four times, had a history of depression and later committed suicide. The broker, named by Mr. Justice Munby as Jay Carter, wrote a glowing home study report on the British couple and declared them suitable to adopt. She failed to mention that the mother already had six children about whom social services had expressed concerns. She had a history of overdoses and excessive drinking and had suffered from cancer. After her suicide, the adoptive father abandoned the baby girl. Her natural parents are considered unfit to care for her. The child, now aged three, will be placed for adoption. The judge said the case had aroused "even the judicial heart to indignation". In a damning judgment, Mr. Justice Munby said the international trade in babies for sale was causing "untold harm to children, untold misery to their birth mothers and untold heartache to adopters".
The judge, sitting in the Family Division of the High Court in London, ordered that copies of his judgment be sent to a number of authorities, including the Health Secretary and Home Secretary, in an attempt to tighten up the laws on such adoptions. It was revealed that Mrs. Carter, from Skelton, Cleveland, had been criticised by judges involved with previous adoption cases for inadequate and "superficial' home study reports on adoptive parents. The British couple, who cannot be identified, paid a total of £18,500. The birth mother received about £624. The American agency, now defunct, charged £12,000-£13,500. It is not clear how much Mrs Carter received, although she charged £500 for the home study report. Mrs Carter had also acted as an intermediary in the attempted adoption of twin girls using an internet adoption agency in Texas by Alan and Judith Kilshaw from Buckley, North Wales. The judge said his judgment would be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions "with a view to him considering whether any criminal proceedings should be instituted against Jay Carter".
Adoption cases are usually held in private, but the judge said there was "a pressing need" for this case to be made public. He went on: "This is merely the latest, though I fear it will not be the last, of a number of cases of inter-country adoptions where not merely has the process ended in disaster for the child but where that process has been facilitated by the criminal misconduct of so-called professional persons operating commercially in this country. It is high time that this evil and exploitative trade was stamped out."
Mrs. Carter refused to comment last night. A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "This case highlights the importance of ensuring that prospective adopters are properly assessed and approved as suitable to adopt, and that inter-country adoption only takes place where it is in the best interests of the child."
